


Bloodline

by dralexreid



Series: Dr Piper Bishop [31]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Child Marriage, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27058786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dralexreid/pseuds/dralexreid
Relationships: Dr Spencer Reid/Dr Piper Bishop
Series: Dr Piper Bishop [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972852
Kudos: 19





	Bloodline

Piper tapped her heel against the cold elevator floor, checking her wristwatch while balancing her 7 cups of coffee. Stepping out, she saw Jordan speed past her and weave between agents in the bullpen to Hotch’s office. “This can’t be good,” she heard Rossi say as she offered the two coffee. Jordan flung open the door, interrupting Hotch’s call.

“We have a request from Alabama.” She spoke confidently while Hotch attempted to interrupt. “A husband and wife were murdered at their home while they were sleeping. Their 10-year-old daughter went missing. Bodies were discovered less than an hour ago.” As Hotch marched down past Bishop, Rossi and Prentiss with his go-bag, he gave them the briefest of explanations while grabbing his coffee. Piper passed Jordan her coffee quickly and while Prentiss went to fetch Morgan and Reid, Bishop grabbed their go-bags, only having to juggle 2 coffees now.

In the jet, Piper sat in front of Rossi, adjacent to Jordan as she flicked through the file, listening to Todd’s briefing. “Parents are Geoff and Nancy Hale; both their throats were slit.”

“Efficient kills. Cold, calculated,” Piper noted quickly.

“That’s because the real target was down the hall,” Emily added.

“She has a name.” Jordan frowned at Emily. “Her name is Cate.” Emily nodded and Spencer shifted in his stance next to Hotch. Even Garcia could feel the tension all the way in DC.

“Well, with the unsub’s head start, he could be anywhere within a 400-mile radius,” Hotch said, eyes trained on his file. “Todd, make sure that they’re casting a wide enough net. Cate’s biological father found the body. Bishop, I want you to interview him. Garcia, I want a list of registered sex offenders in a 20-mile radius and aerial views of the neighbourhood. Dave, you and Morgan go to the crime scene. Prentiss, go through the autopsy report and Reid, build your geographic profile. Remember, we have less than 8 hours to find her.” The briefing over, Piper left to grab a cup of coffee and Jordan followed her.

“You see this type of stuff often?” Piper sighed wearily.

“I hate to say it, but they happen.” Jordan leaned her head against the aeroplane wall.

“I don’t get it. She’s 10. What possible reasoning could there be? How sick do you have to be to—” Piper lay her hand on Jordan’s shoulder gently.

“You honestly want to know?” At Jordan’s nod, Piper continued. “Justifications for child abductions vary greatly. Most of the time, they’re done by women who want to replace their own lost child. Other times, they’re paedophiles who can’t keep it in their pants. They’re the ones you can’t feel sorry for.”

“Huh—” Jordan went to say, but Piper was on a roll now.

“And incidentally, child abductions aren’t recent either,” she rattled on, oblivious to Jordan’s deepening frown. “Aztecs would ritually sacrifice a child under 10 every day. There’s even debate on whether the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a medieval mass abduction and I am not helping, am I?” Piper winced at her own indiscretion. “Sorry.” Piper took her cup and left to settle down in her seat.

Derek took off his sunglasses as he exited the SUV, approaching the house. They greeted the officer who showed the agents the crime scene, walking them through the back door with the smashed windowpane, up to the master bedroom. Meanwhile, Emily looked over the autopsy report with Jordan. Both groups noticed the same thing as one pair stared at the bloody bedsheets and the other flicked through the photographs. “We’re dealing with multiple unsubs,” Emily pointed out to Jordan before going to find Hotch who told her that Derek and Rossi came to the same conclusion.

At the same time, Piper entered the sheriff’s office, the stench of booze hitting her before the sight of the man. “Hi, I’m Dr Piper Bishop, I’m with the FBI. Can I get you something? Coffee or water?”

“No-no. I can answer your questions, Doctor.”

“Piper’s fine. Sir, do you know if anyone disliked your ex-wife and her husband? Did they have any enemies?”

“No. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t- don’t know.”

“That’s okay. What about Cate? Did she tell you about anyone new in her life?”

“She’s a normal kid, you know. She…meets people all the time.”

“This would be an adult, possibly a white male. He might be an authority figure to her. Could be a new teacher or neighbour…”

“Uh…sorry.”

“Sir, what do you know about Cate?”

“Um… We go to the movies a lot…There’s a new multiplex at the mall so…”

“I’m sorry, sir, but when’s the last time you saw Cate?”

“I get visitation every two weeks.”

“I see. And you stick to that schedule?”

“I uh…”

“Look, sir, with all due respect, I need to know everything about Cate. Can you provide that kind of information?”

“Umm… What kind of information?”

“Things that make her unique. What makes her stand out? Even if it’s just dietary requirements.” Piper shrugged, hoping he could give her something.

“Well, she has epilepsy. Gets seizures sometimes.”

“Thank you. We’ll keep you posted with any developments.” Piper shook his hand heartily before sprinting out to find Hotch. Piper leaned against the table next to Spencer as she told Hotch who dialled Morgan immediately to check for whether her medication had been taken too.

“They didn’t know to take the medication,” Hotch announced to the group as Emily and Jordan joined them from another room.

“So, the crime isn’t personal?” Spencer asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“I think it adds up. I mean, look at the MO.” Piper motioned towards the pinned pictures. “Slitting their throats, it’s efficient and cold.”

“That makes tracking them down harder, though,” Emily thought aloud. “Think about it, what’s the motive?” Piper moved past Emily to look closer at the pictures, then the map.

“Efficiency. They killed the parents,” she murmured as the group watched her. “No point of extortion if the parents are dead or if the biological father hasn’t seen her in…” Piper whirled around; eyes wide.

“What is it?”

“She’s 10, pre-pubescent. Not old enough for it to be human trafficking or slavery but…” Piper hesitated, stumbling over her words. “I think she’s a forced child bride.” She stammered, trying to explain as she saw the confusion in her team’s expressions. “Look, they killed her parents and if they didn’t even know about the medication for her epilepsy, then it’s likely they didn’t realise she had a biological father. It’s efficient and calculated and she’s just young enough to be susceptible to brainwashing or Stockholm’s syndrome even. I can’t see any other explanation and it’s a feasible possibility.” She turned to Spencer to back her up.

“Well, a recent study did find that 6 out of 1 000 children in the United States were married and Unchained at Last found marriage licenses for more than 167,000 children, so it’s possible.”

“The problem is when they’ll find out she has epilepsy. They could discard her or even…” Piper didn’t want to say the words, not out loud, but everyone heard them.

“And the primary cause of seizures is stress,” Emily said, and Jordan left, not wanting to hear any more.

When Derek and Rossi returned, Piper and Emily filled them in while Spencer kept expanding his geographical profile. Hotch reappeared from the Sheriff’s office, taking Piper and Jordan with him to the hospital. Cate had been found on the side of a road, 84 miles from the house, which confused both Hotch and Spencer.

As they entered the hospital, Hotch asked Piper to conduct a cognitive interview with Cate, explaining it might make things easier for Cate. Piper obliged, stepping inside the private room, and asked to speak with Cate alone. Her father left and Piper introduced herself with a warm smile which Cate reciprocated weakly. The little girl tried sitting up and Piper helped her. “Hi, Cate. I’m Piper, I’m with the FBI. I’m very sorry about your parents. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions so we can find out who did this?” Cate shook her head, ready to get this over and done with. “I’m gonna do what’s called a cognitive interview, okay? It’s how we help you remember what happened.”

Cate’s voice turned small. “I’m scared,” she whimpered. Piper held her hand.

“I know, honey. But I’ll be right here. We’ll get through this together.” Cate nodded slowly. “Okay, I want you to close your eyes. What’s the first thing you remember?”

“It’s cold.”

“You’re outside? Who’s there?”

“A man. he told me to– keep quiet.”

“What is he doing?”

“He’s holding my hand. It hurts. He’s waiting for something.” Piper rubbed Cate’s wrists.

“What does he look like?”

“I don’t want to be here.”

“He can’t hurt you; I promise. I’m right here,” she repeated soothingly to Cate.

“Tall. Dark hair. Old.”

“Old? Old like me?”

“Old like my dad.”

“Is anyone else there?”

“Someone’s coming! Piper, Piper, help me!” The little girl started to shriek, and Piper enveloped her in her arms.

“I’m right here, Cate. He can’t hurt you,” she said tenderly. “I’m right here.” Cate started to calm down, her breathing steady against Piper. “It’s okay, sweetheart.” Cate took in a deep breath as she straightened up, evidently calmer. Piper kept her hands wrapped as Cate closed her eyes again.

“He—He put me in the trunk.”

“How long were you in there?”

“I don’t know. Not long. 10 minutes.”

“Was the ride bumpy or smooth?”

“It was smooth. I wanted to scream, but no sound would come out.”

“It’s okay,” Piper said, rubbing Cate’s hands. “So, the car stops, and they open the trunk. What do you hear?”

“Wind. Wind through the trees.”

“And what do you smell?”

“Cooking.”

“Are you inside now?”

“They’ve taken my shoes off.”

“That’s so you won’t run. You’re doing great. I want you to look down at your feet and tell me what you’re standing on.”

“Carpet. I’m in a little room. With clothes and tinfoil all around me.”

“What do you hear?”

“I–I hear bells.”

“What kind of bells?”

“Small. Like a fairy. Every time they ring, the man says something to the boy.”

“The boy?”

“He’s standing right next to you,” Cate whispered.

“How old is he?”

“9. Almost 10. His mother’s calling him, puyule or something. I think his parents want me to play with him.”

“His parents?”

“Piper, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. Don’t let them make me go!”

“Hey, hey. You’re okay. I’m right here. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, okay?” Piper kept rubbing Cate’s hands. “Cate, open your eyes.” Piper smiled as she blinked slowly. “See? I’m right here. Everything’s gonna be okay. You did a great job, you know that?” Cate nodded slowly before hugging Piper tightly.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and Piper carded a hand through Cate’s hair.

“Listen, I’m gonna send your father in, okay?” Piper got up from the hospital bed, kissing Cate on the forehead before she left. She clasped Mr Scheuren’s shoulder. “You’ve got a very resilient daughter, sir. She’s going to be just fine.”

“Did they touch her?”

“No, no. Not in that way, no.”

“Thank god.”

“You can go in and see her if you’d like.” She smiled mournfully at the father and daughter embracing, turning as she saw Hotch approach. “She was taken by a family. Parents and a little boy about her age. They took her from her house in a car and then into an RV. A short ride on a road and then into a wooded area. Explains how they only travelled about 90 miles. She also said the mother called the boy puyule, I’d guess some form of a nickname. Emily or Spencer might know where that’s from.”

“Call her. I’ll get Derek and Rossi to check RV parks.”

^-^

The next morning, the team reconvened in the precinct. Piper was perched on a table, sipping a cup of tea. Emily had mentioned the night before that _puyule_ was a Romanian term of endearment and Derek and Rossi had found shards of coloured glass matching the ones found at Cate’s house. “You know, if the family speaks Romanian, the spreading of the glass makes sense,” Piper remarked. Her colleagues blinked at her. “It’s an Eastern European superstition for good luck.”

“So, they’re Romanian. We already knew that.” The sheriff scoffed.

“Not just Romanian,” Spencer elaborated. “We’re talking about people that are highly superstitious and obsessed with ritual.”

“Romani.” Piper nodded, continuing to sip her tea. “Gypsies, but this family’s specifically the type that perverted Romani culture. Usually, gypsies are tight-knit and nomadic like our unsubs, but not usually prone to violence.” The sheriff just stared at her.

“Why do you know that?”

“My father’s a gypsy,” Piper deadpanned, slurping her tea as Spencer smirked behind her and Morgan chuckled as he called Garcia to widen her search parameters.

“Hey, baby girl, we need to talk.”

_“PG or NC-17?”_

“You’re on speakerphone.”

 _“I charge extra for groups.”_ Piper chuckled through her tea.

“We need you to run through crimes similar to the Hale murders in the last 2 years,” Rossi called out.

_“Oh, I already did that. Zip.”_

“Go back even further, Garcia. Cross-reference against any small towns that have had reports of petty theft associated with waves of Romani populations entering the area.”

_“Romani?”_

“Gypsies,” Piper filled in.

_“As in “gypsies, tramps, and thieves”?”_

“Exactly,” Derek smirked.

 _“Oh, bless you all for turning my life into a Cher song.”_ Piper’s eyebrows furrowed at Garcia’s pop culture reference.

“Isn’t that song about a minor’s relationship with an adult who then gets pregnant?”

_“Piper don’t you dare ruin Cher for me. As for Derek, you will have it nearly immediately.”_

“You’re the best.”

“We have another problem.” Piper set her empty cup down. “Cate said the kid was almost 10 and she clearly didn’t fit their needs. That means they’re probably hunting another victim as we speak.”

“We need to deliver our profile. Sheriff, you need to get your men together as soon as possible.”

^-^

“The unsubs we’re looking for are a family,” Hotch said as the large group shared the information packets between them. “A father, a mother, and a son, approximately 10 years old. We believe they’re of Romanian descent.”

“The family travels in an RV,” Rossi continued, “but they also have another vehicle that they use to go back and forth between campsites and cities.”

“We need you to call every RV park in the area,” Derek asked. “Alert the owners to be on the lookout for a family that fits this description, as well as a campsite that might have broken glass scattered around.”

“The breaking of the glass and the discarding of Cate Hale because of her epilepsy leads us to believe that these are highly superstitious people and that they are playing out a very specific ritual,” Spencer explained, gesturing with his hands. “The focus of this ritual is the young girls.”

“Do we know why?” A voice piped up from the middle of the group.

“Historically, prepubescent girls were chosen as brides, purely because a child’s developmental process was based on their physicality,” Piper explained from Spencer’s side. “Girls would be married before they hit puberty so that they could learn the duties of a wife and mother. As society changed, so did the age requirements for marriage. We think this family is perverting those ancient norms as a cultural obligation.”

“We do know from the location of Cate Hale’s house that they don’t come across these girls by accident,” Rossi continued. “They study. They hunt.”

“Cate’s father said that she liked to go to the movies at their local multiplex. That’s a good place to start,” Piper provided.

“Also look at the parks, malls,” Hotch continued. “Concentrate on those that are an easy drive from the RV parks you locate. This family is out there and they’re looking for their next victim.” As Hotch finished the profile, Emily popped in from the next room.

“Hotch, you need to see this.” The team walked in to see the fax machine in overdrive, sending out flurries of paper.

“What is this? Garcia, you there?”

“ _Present. So, I went ahead and went further back looking for similar cases and I made the search national. There’s 30 of them and they go as far back as 1909. Rapid City, South Dakota, Taos, New Mexico, Gary, Indiana. My map is lit up like a Christmas tree.”_

“This looks like a generational tradition.” Piper held up about 5 cases in her fist. “There’s no way the same nuclear family unit could be doing all of these… Emily, the autopsy report, what made you think there were two unsubs?”

“The father’s throat was slit cleanly, the other wasn’t.”

“Was it shaky? As though someone was doing it for the first time?”

“You don’t think…” Emily trailed off. “They really are training a child to become a killer.”

“They’ve got an entire method planned out,” Rossi realised. “They kill the parents so that finding the child becomes a matter of less priority.”

_“Sir, it gets worse. I got a hit on a hair fibre in the blanket the unsubs used to wrap Cate Hale. It belongs to Kathy Gray; she was abducted in 1971 after her parents were murdered.”_

“So, you’re telling me one of these little girls is now one of our unsubs?” Piper rubbed her face and collapsed into a chair.

 _“That’s what it looks like.”_ Jordan mirrored Piper’s movements, sitting on the couch with cradling her head in her hands. While most of them shuffled off to the hotels to get some sleep, Jordan sat by the table, reading through each report.

“You’ll go crazy doing that,” Piper smirked as she sat down across from her, sliding a cup of coffee towards her. “Figured I might as well stay up with you.”

“How come these cases don’t get to you?”

“Oh, believe me, they do. They get to us all. Even Hotch. But it makes us better profilers, better people.” Jordan nodded.

“I just feel like—”

“You should be doing more?” Piper chuckled, tracing the rim of her mug with her forefinger. “Yeah, that question plagued me for years. I was constantly moving jobs; you know and one day I found myself in Texas as a history teacher at an elementary cum middle school. And as I’m teaching these kids, my class goes from 45 down to 43 and turns out, it’s a kid in my class.” Piper scoffed. “Some days I still feel responsible. Like I should’ve paid more attention or talked to him or _something_. But I try to live with it. I pay more attention to people. We make mistakes. We have to own up to them and live with them and _hope_ that it makes us better for it.” Jordan nodded, then faltered.

“What, what happened to your kids?”

“Oh, another kid in my class chased them into the woods before bludgeoning them to death.” Piper nodded; her mouth drawn into a line.

“A working theory from 1971 was that a transient killed the family and abducted Kathy Gray. Then all the leads went cold. How do you watch your family get murdered and then make a life with the people who did it?”

“It’s Stockholm syndrome. You adapt or die.”

“So, now she’s training her son to be a murderer?”

“At a certain point, once traditions are handed down generation after generation, there is no right or wrong. Add in the fact that the Romani are a closed society, the unsub’s simply twisted and distorted traditions to become entirely insular.”

“So, abducting the children keeps the bloodline pure, killing the parents makes sure people stop looking for them.”

“Yeah. Sick, isn’t it?” Their conversation died as the sheriff walked in.

“We’ve got a report of an RV on fire about 20 miles from here.” Piper stood up, downing the rest of her coffee.

“Can you let the others know? I’ll go get started on the new scene,” she asked before leaving, accepting the keys to a bike she could use.

^-^

Piper surveyed the charred RV, pulling on blue surgical gloves as Derek and Spencer pulled up behind her. “It was started less than an hour ago,” she announced, “so they can’t be far. It looks like they left almost everything.”

“They got what they wanted; they’re starting over.” Spencer nodded as he walked over to the spilled over clothes and remnants.

“Look at the clothes. Most of them still have the store sensors on them,” Derek pointed out, holding up a pair of burnt trousers.

“The tinfoil.” Piper squatted. “Cate Hale remembered being locked in a room with clothes and tinfoil.”

“Makes sense, the Romani tend to make their living being petty thieves,” Spencer added.

“Looks like they really are gypsies, tramps and thieves,” Piper joked sardonically.

“Also accounts for the bells.” Spencer held them up, handing them over to Morgan for closer inspection. “Cate says she remembers hearing the sound of bells, followed directly by the father talking to the son.” Piper snorted, getting up.

“School of the 7 bells.” She shook her head mirthlessly. “You dress a mannequin; you line a suit with 7 bells. If you can pick his pocket without a bell ringing, you’re ready to work a crowd.” She shrugged, wiping her hands.

“They abducted Lynn and killed her family in an area that they knew was surrounded by police and the FBI,” Derek sighed as he rose.

“They had to. They can’t deviate. We also know that they’re starting over,” Reid explained, joining the two. “Which means they’re gonna need some money. We need to get to the nearest mall.” Piper nodded, pulling off her gloves and moving towards her bike as Spencer called Hotch.

Piper stormed purposefully into the mall, helping the sheriff direct officers into Hotch’s given positions. Within a half-hour, the BAU had local officers peppered strategically throughout the mall, putting up wanted posters as the profilers split into pairs to traverse the multiplex. Piper and Emily strode towards the food courts as Spencer and Derek took the first floor. Dave and Jordan traversed the higher-end department stores while Hotch kept an eye on security footage. Before Piper and Emily could be tempted by the delicious lure of food, they heard a siren from the floor below them and started sprinting down the escalator. As her feet slapped the escalator steps, Piper’s heart pounded, unlatching her gun. She heard Emily yell out as she jumped the last few steps. “Kathy Gray! Put the bags down and your hands in the air!” Piper handcuffed her, pushing her towards the police to escort her out, uncertainty lodged in the back of her mind.

“Something’s not right,” she muttered, a hand scratching her bare neck. “They’ve been stealing for years and they never get caught. This was too easy,” Emily’s forehead unwrinkled and she haphazardly dialled Hotch.

^-^

Piper watched intently as Emily and Hotch played good cop, bad cop. While Hotch played the part of an infuriated boss, eerily well Piper noted, Emily played the calm voice of reason, arguing with Hotch every few minutes and a few more minutes later, Piper felt Spencer’s arm brush against hers. “How’s it going so far?”

“They’re trying to crack her by reminding her of the girl she used to be.”

“I hope this good cop/ bad cop routine works. If her family gets away, we’ve lost that little girl forever.” Piper nodded solemnly; her jaw clenched tight.

“We’ll find her,” Piper asserted gently, before walking out. Spencer stayed, watching as Hotch kept pressing her for information, dictating names of every fencer in Huntsville. Finally, after what seemed like a dozen or so names, she spoke.

“I won’t help you.” Emily beamed at Kathy.

“You just did.” Spencer ran out, alerting the team and they left, each donning their vests and mics.

Piper slammed the SUV door behind her as Rossi and Morgan flanked her. On the opposite side of the SUV, Hotch and Spencer flanked Emily as the 6 of them approached the fencer. Through the clamour of bright flashlights in the dark, Piper wrapped her arms around the little girl while Derek and Hotch cuffed the father. Emily took the boy to another SUV as Piper carried the 10-year-old girl to her own SUV. Despite the shouting behind her, the SUV was a sanctuary as the little girl gulped down an entire water bottle. Piper shut the door behind her, leaving herself and the little girl alone in the car. Piper managed to dig out a candy bar from her bag in the car, handing it to the girl who started crying about halfway through the bar, from grief and exhaustion. “You’re okay,” Piper soothed, caressing her hair as the little girl clutched at her. “I’m right here, you’re gonna be okay.” They stayed like that until the little one fell asleep on her lap. The nightmare outside over, Spencer and Rossi entered the SUV and Piper raised a finger to her lips at them, making them aware of the sleeping child. Piper stroked her head as they headed to the hospital.

Once admitted, Piper made sure the little girl was sleeping peacefully before slipping out of the hospital with Spencer. Yet, Spencer noticed the still-injured face Piper wore. “Hey, we got them. It’s over.” Out in the cold night air, Spencer resisted the temptation to slip a stray strand of Piper’s hair away.

“We got one family, Spence. You saw that pile-up of unattended cases.” She gazed off into the woods. “Who knows how many more are out there?” Spencer desperately wanted to wrap Piper in his arms, tell her it would all be okay, that he would fix it all for her. But all he could do was nod solemnly.


End file.
